Fuller v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

49 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 49 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “DEFENDANT’S TENDERED INSTRUCTION [REJECTED] “You are instructed that under the law of this State a person may have sufficient mental capacity to know right from wrong and to be able (sic) to comprehend the nature and consequences of the act, and yet not be criminally responsible for his action; for an irresistible impulse of a person accused is a lawful excuse for the commission of an act, otherwise a crime, where the person committing it, though he is capable of knowing right from wrong, lacks in consequence of a diseased mind, the will power to resist an impulse to commit crime.” TRIAL COURT’S FINAL INSTRUCTION NO. 19 “Under the Defendant’s plea of not guilty there is an issue as to his sanity at the time of the alleged offense. The law does not hold a person criminally accountable for his conduct while insane, since an insane person is not capable of forming the intent essestial (sic) to the commission of a crime. The sanity of the Defendant at the time of the commission of the alleged offense is an element of the crime charged and must be established by the State beyond reasonable doubt, just as it must establish every other element of the offense charged. A Defendant is insane within the meaning of these instructions if, at the time of the alleged criminal conduct, as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Smith v. State

2. ““The rule of law touching reasonable doubt is a fair, reasonable, and practical rule for the guidance of practical men, when engaged in the solemn and important duty of assisting in a fair, honest, and impartial enforcement of the criminal laws of the State of Indiana. “But this rule of law which clothes every person accused of crime with the presumption of innocence, and imposes upon the State the burden of establishing his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, is not intended to aid anyone who is in fact guilty of crime to escape a just and well merited punishment, but is a humane provision of the law, intended insofar as human agencies can, to guard against the danger of any innocent person being unjustly punished. And by reasonable doubt, is not meant, a whim or capricious or speculative doubt. It is properly termed a reasonable doubt, as distinguished from an unreasonable or speculative doubt, and it must arise from all of the evidence or absence of evidence relating to some material fact or facts charged in the indictment, and not spring from mere subsidiary evidence.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Sceifers v. State

3. ““I instruct you that the presence or absence of accessory shall not be considered in making your determination of the charge of premeditated murder and if there is any reasonable doubt as to whether or not the Defendant, Walter Banks, shot Lucille Hosmer, you must find the Defendant ‘Not Guilty’ of premeditated murder.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Banks v. State